Christmas Decorating with Grocery Store Goods

By special request from my beautiful, stylish, and ever-inspiring cousin-in-law who currently resides in Washington D.C., here are some ideas on Christmas decorating with items sourced entirely from the local grocery store.

pic from hgtv.com

These beautiful lanterns are made from a Kerr jar (any glass jar would work), Epsom salt or rock salt, and small candles. Light them and you instantly transform a space into a glittering winter wonderland.

pic from Small Notebook

pic from Small Notebook

These popcorn and fruit garlands from a blog called Small Notebook are nostalgic and beautiful.  All you need is popped popcorn, some dried orange slices (slice thin and let dry out), or cranberries and a needle and thread.  If you don't have the needle and thread at home, they usually sell small sewing kits at the grocery store too.

pic from Ever Parent

pic from Passion for Parties

Cranberries are bright, colorful, and available everywhere this time of year!  Find a pretty dish or platter and place cranberries around some candles, or place the berries inside a small vase and float small votive candles on top.

pic from housetohome

Another fruit to use is green apples.  They are a fun more contemporary green shade to infuse into the holiday decor.  In this picture they placed green apples in a large see-through container and placed taper candles down in the container as well.  The candles are not a necessity, the apples alone look great.  Limes, pears, and red apples are also great for Christmas decorating.

pic from housetohome

Expand the above picture for better detail of the gift tree in the background by the fireplace.  We all have boxes lying around - whether they're cereal boxes, shoe boxes, diaper boxes, etc.  Take those boxes and wrap them with some festive paper and ribbon, then stack them up - largest box on the bottom graduated up to the smallest box on top - to create a make-shift tree.

pic from gzpzguy

I remember making these in elementary school - the Reader's Digest (or any magazine really...) Christmas tree! You may have magazines laying around the house, if not just grab a few small magazines at the supermarket check-out stand - Reader's Digest, Soap Digest, and those small recipe magazines all work great for smaller trees.  For a great tutorial with step by step instructions, watch the video at marthastewart.com.  After folding, you can leave the trees as-is, or they look great spray painted and glittered as well for a more formal look.

pics from marthastewart.com

Who doesn't love a traditional snowflake?  Yes, they sell construction paper and printer paper at the grocery store, too....  You can't go wrong with any cuts - circle flakes, square flakes, diamond flakes - they're all beautifully unique.  If you're not feeling extra creative and want to cut the flake above go here for instructions.

pic from housetohome

This last one really made me smile because it looks like something a poor college kid would have come up with during a study break...the post-it note tree.  Grab a stack of post-its at the grocery store and arrange them on a wall, a mirror, or your refrigerator in the shape of a Christmas tree.  You can write messages, words, Bible verses, or draw small pictures on them too.  Love it!

You could totally deck out a place on a grocery store visit alone!  Any one else have some good ideas?  -Kristen